Thinking back on 2018’s Aquaman, the memories that stick are Nicole Kidman delivering a semiaquatic kung fu beatdown, the trench monsters and that octopus that plays the drums. So the short-term goals for the years-in-the-making Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom are to meet or exceed those three particular thresholds. And while this film’s trench-monster equivalent (the population of the titular Lost Kingdom of Necrus, corrupted by arcane emerald fire into a horde of wraiths) doesn’t have the visceral terror of that sequence, La Nicole gets to drive a robot shark and fix a family, which is all anyone could want from an action blockbuster. And though an octopus doesn’t play the drums (an axolotl does), there’s an octopus spy named Topo who steals the whole film. Though the mood around this film is somber — whether it’s the end of the DCEU or just the fact that this is one of the last films to emerge from Warner Bros. before it gets strip-mined for parts by Comcast or Paramount Global — the vibe herein is goofy and fun.
It’s a quilt, to be sure. Considering how many years of reshoots and test screenings have been going on, you expect the sort of cut-to-the-chase sensation-hopping that defines these kinds of films (at their best, Flashdance; at their worst, Jonah Hex). Randall Park’s scientist-with-a-conscience character gets to do some emergency expository sutures a couple of times, and the ancient artifact that gives Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s Black Manta his bad-guy upgrade has the magickal ability to be exactly as useful as the story requires from one scene to the next. But given the terabytes of pixels spilled over this production (it spans three or four different WB regimes), it generally works better than you could hope. Jason Momoa (he’s got "Story By" credit) is definitely in the driver’s seat, and he and director James Wan have an easy rapport — if the vibe leans a little dude-bro/classic rock (this movie is staggeringly dadcore), you just let it slide because everything is way more colorful and vibrant than the majority of this type of film. Also, they’re pushing the 3D experience, and rightfully so — it’s obvious that during the protracted post-production that the filmmakers put some effort into making the 3D version into something special.
Despite the efforts of assorted internet hordes, Amber Heard is still in the film. It’s documented that Wan and Momoa both tried to sideline her character Mera due to the ongoing toxic fumes from that court case (short version: just as Johnny Depp is not Captain Jack Sparrow, Amber Heard is not Mandy Lane), which is deeply fucked-up and which lingers, unspoken, around the film and in its rougher edges. For a film that aims for a fun and vibey fusillade against climate crisis and destructive warrior mentalities, it feels icky how little care is given to the character. Tampa’s pride, Patrick Wilson, steps up as former bad guy on slow-path-to-redemption Orm, and he has a running joke involving roaches that never fails to yield a gross guffaw or two.
Respect is due the fact that Black Manta’s army of contractor-scientists (it is unclear) are absolutely rocking the uniforms from Mario Bava’s Planet of the Vampires. Similarly, this film goes above and beyond when it comes to wild-ass creatures, both in having recognizable fauna do extraordinary things (that aforementioned octopus spy, a pod of whales simultaneously getting all Zen but also metal) as well as things you might never have imagined (giant catfish crimelord, battle crustaceans, the Atlantean tribe that when shunned by the sea just decided to become vampires in the desert). The thing to keep in mind is that, like The Marvels, this film feels way more fun than its more respectable predecessors. Your mileage may vary. But whatever entity ends up with the DC rights, more Topo, please.
